Writer-director James Gunn’s “Superman” was always going to be a strange chemistry of filmmaker and material. Gunn, the mind behind “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad,” has reliably drifted toward a B-movie superhero realm populated (usually over-populated) with the lesser-known freaks, oddities and grotesquerie of back-issue comics.

"Superman," starring David Corenswet and in theaters Friday, takes the most comic-centric approach to a superhero movie in a post-Marvel world.

James Gunn’s vision for the character is a very refreshing take that’s not necessarily the most “groundbreaking,” but it’s probably the most satisfying version of the Man of Steel in recent years.